Webster Public Library patrons have just a few more days to get to the library and check out the arrangement of mini quilts hung up in the artist’s corner.
The 60 “Webster Wee” quilts look like a colorful mural, bringing the library wall alive with a huge variety of bright colors, intricate designs and styles. Each little quilt is 10″ by 10″, and handmade my members of the Webster Quilt Guild.
Best part is, you can purchase any one of the Wee Quilts for just $10. They make great gifts for cat lovers, gardeners, holidays, birthdays, kids, wall hangings, door decorations at senior centers or living facilities, and for any fabric-arts lovers. There even are a few for sports fans. They make great hot pads, mug mats or plant mats.
The Wee Quilts will be on display until the end of March, so get to the library soon! If you see one (or more) you’d like to buy, send a text to Jen Ulrich at 585-975-9240 with your name and the number of the Wee Quilt you’d would like to purchase. She’ll get in touch with you.
Proceeds from the sale will be used to purchase supplies for the Guild’s many donation initiatives.
These Webster Wees (and more) will also be on display and for sale at the Webster Quilt Guild 2022 Quilt Show on April 23 and 24 at Holy Trinity Church, 1460 Ridge Road, Webster. More details to come about the Quilt Show in a future blog.
I anticipate writing longer blogs about a few of these events in the coming weeks, but in the meantime, here’s a tease so you can get them on your calendars.
One of our town’s most creative and fun FREE family events — the Great Rochester Peep Show — returns Saturday and Sunday April 2 and 3 to the Webster Recreation Center on Chiyoda Drive (off of Phillips).
This fun, completely free, family-friendly event features at least four entire rooms filled with incredibly creative sculptures, dioramas, and various other works of art, all created with marshmallow Peeps candies. In addition to the displays, several entertainers and community groups will be performing.
Hours are 10 to 5 p.m. on Saturday, 10 to 4 on Sunday.
Community Arts Day returns the following weekend after a two-year COVID-induced hiatus.
This year’s event will take place on Saturday, April 9 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Webster Schroeder High School, 875 Ridge Rd. This very family-friendly festival showcases Webster CSD students’ creative talents and involves the entire community in a day to celebrate the arts.
Dozens of activities are planned throughout the day, including art displays, carnival games, sweet treats sale, plant sale, crafts, community group exhibits and more. Musical groups and demonstrators (dancers, gymnastics, etc.) perform free all day, and you can even grab lunch and snacks.
This is one of my favorite events of the whole year.
Webster’s next American Red Cross blood drive is coming up in just a few weeks. Here are the details:
Tuesday April 5, St. Martin’s Lutheran Church (813 Bay Rd.), 1 to 6 p.m. (Click here to make an appointment) Wednesday April 6, American Legion (8181 Ridge Rd.), noon to 5 p.m. (Click here for an appointment)
Anyone who donates at one of these drives will receive an exclusive Red Cross t-shirt, while supplies last.
The need right now is critical, so please consider donating!
The Webster Public Library, is hosting a meet-and-greet with new library director Adam Traub on Wednesday April 27 from 3 to 5 p.m. Snacks will be served!
And since we’re talking about the library, next time you’re there, make sure to check out the Webster Museum’s current display. It features square-dancing fashions provided by the Copy Cats Western Square Dance Club, currently celebrating their 50th anniversary. The group was started by Xerox employees.
At the museum itself, at 18 Lapham Park in the village, a new exhibit looks at women’s nineteenth century garments, occupations, voting and working rights efforts, and the story of the “Great Women’s Uprising” of 1910.
The museum is open 2:30 to 4:30 pm on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays.
This is exciting news.
The Webster Business Improvement District (BID) is sponsoring a FREE Easter Egg Hunt on Saturday April 16 at the Webster Firemen’s Field on West Main St.
Our local merchants will be providing the eggs, filled with prizes and surprises. Children will be divided into three different age groupings for the hunt, and there will be an extra prize basket for the child in each group who finds the golden egg.
The hunt will begin at 10 a.m. More details to come!
This great event is just the first in a long line of special events the Webster BID is working on for this spring and summer, which include a Beer Walk, Bourbon Bash, Family Games Nights, the Trick or Treat Trail, Jazz Fest, Wine Walks and more. Watch for more details about these in an upcoming blog.
“Envision the Possibilities” will showcase approximately 250 quilts, plus special displays of quilts created for Breast Cancer Coalition, Quilts of Valor, Bivona Child Advocacy Center, Asbury Storehouse, and Meals on Wheels. Other activities include vendors, boutique table, and book and pattern sale. The guild will also be collecting non-perishable food items in support of the Webster Backpack Food program.
The show will be held April 23 and 24 at Holy Trinity Church, 146 Ridge Road. Tickets will be $5, available at the door.
Amy Stringer, owner of The North Bee gift shop in the Village of Webster, has found a very creative way to support the people of Ukraine: through the end of the month, she’s making and selling beeswax sunflower ornaments, with 100% of the proceeds going to support ROC Maidan, the charitable arm of the Ukrainian Cultural Center of Rochester.
Sunflowers, or sunyashniki, are the national flower of Ukraine. Amy has created three different designs, each being sold for $10 apiece. Funds raised will be donated to ROC Maidan, who will distribute them to where they’re needed to help refugees and soldiers and offer humanitarian aid.
Her efforts have been very well received so far, and recently got some notice one of our local television stations. Last week, Spectrum News posted a story about the sunflowers, which you can see here.
Amy is calling her three designs the Full Sunflower, Monet Sunflowers, and the Dinner Plate Sunflower. She was thrilled to report that she’s already sold almost 250 of the sunflowers, and the event isn’t over yet.
Click here for more information about this special event and ROC Maidan. The North Bee is located at 27 North Ave. in the Village of Webster.
The Webster Thomas Players’ spring musical, Little Shop of Horrors, takes to the stage in just a few weeks, Thursday, Friday and Saturday April 7, 8 and 9.
I’m sure you’ve heard of this classic show. Little Shop of Horrors is a sci-fi horror musical with a 1960s pop/rock score by Alan Menken and Howard Ashman. It tells the story of meek floral assistant Seymour Krelborn, who stumbles across a new breed of plant he names “Audrey II.” The egotistical, sweet talking R&B-singing carnivore promises unending fame and fortune to the down-and-out Krelborn as long as he keeps feeding it, blood. Over time, though, Seymour discovers Audrey II’s out-of-this-world origins and intent towards global domination.
Then the fun really begins.
Shows will be held Thursday, Friday and Saturday April 7, 8 and 9 at 7:30 p.m., and Saturday at 2 p.m. Tickets are on sale now for $12, or $10 for groups of ten or more. Click here to get yours.
I read some sad news in the Webster Herald the other day. In a short letter on the opinion page, Colin Minster announced that after next week’s edition, he would be resigning his position as editor.
Colin has only been in the role since last summer, when he took over from Anna Hubbel, and I think he was doing quite well in what was a very difficult position. I say it’s difficult, because with a small, hyper-local, weekly publication like the Herald, the editor has to be a Jack-of-all-trades, not only managing the layout and editing, but actively searching out and writing stories of local interest. It’s a 24/7 position from which you can never take a vacation.
He hasn’t been perfect, but despite the challenges, Colin did his best to fill the Herald’s pages with both hard news and interesting features, and established some great community connections with contributing writers (including my bi-weekly blog).
He mentioned those connections in the announcement he printed last week, in which he wrote,
I’d like to thank those in the community who have helped me and given me great stories. Furthermore, during my time as editor, I have trried to get members of the Webster community to contribute with their own columns or “corners” and credit them as guest contributors. I am happy for the participation I’ve seen from community members who are willing to share their expertise with their fellow neighbors and I hope this will continue after my departure and the newspaper can be a place for the community to come together and where one can stay informed.
In a follow-up email, Colin added, “What I will miss most about the Webster community are the many events they put on where business owners and various volunteers work together to help their community enjoy a night in their village.”
Empire State Weeklies, which owns the Webster Herald, hasn’t yet found a replacement, but Colin says they’ve been looking. He plans to provide the new editor a list of ongoing projects to make the transition as seamless as possible.
When the new editor is named, I hope everyone will welcome him or her with characteristic Webster warmth. Because, if you haven’t noticed, local news is a dying breed. Ever since the Webster Post ceased publication in October, the Herald has been one of the few places to find news about our community. Lord knows the Democrat and Chronicle doesn’t pay us any attention unless something bad happens.
Think about it. Aside from the Suburban News on the west side, there is no other weekly local newspaper in Monroe County. We’re pretty fortunate to have the Webster Herald. We need to remember that and remember how difficult the job of editor is.
Thank you, Colin, and best of luck in your future endeavors.I’ve enjoyed working with you.
Some of you, especially those not very familiar with the Village of Webster, might be surprised to learn that there’s an actual wooded park, complete with hiking trails, right in the village.
Milton R. Case Memorial Park is located on the south side of Spry Middle School, with trailheads off of South Ave. and Wood St., and behind Spry. It’s only about a quarter mile square, but features 14 acres of peaceful woods and several short trails.
I first became familiar with Milton Case Park six years ago when I was completing my ambitious 2016 Tour de Parks project, for which I was determined to visit every park in our eastside towns. I tried back then to find out who Milton Case was and why a park was named after him, with no luck.
Then, a couple of weeks ago, I got an email out of the blue, sent through the contact form of my Tour de Parks blogsite.
Lori R. wrote,
Milton R. Case was my grandfather. He was a long time pharmacist in Webster and owned the Webster Drug Store. He was married to Grace Kneeland. They had two children Gwen and Virginia. Gwen is 89 years old and healthy and lives in Portland Oregan. Milton was the mayor of Webster in the 60s. He had six grandchildren. He was a very upstanding American and loved his community and his country. He was in the Webster Rotary Club.
Lori’s email was a great start, but I wanted to learn even more about Mr. Case, so I enlisted the help of Webster Town Historian Lynn Barton, who was able to locate a photo and copies of his obituary.
The obituary provided a few more details.
Mr. Case was elected Webster mayor in 1965, succeeding Roy Hawley, who served for 34 years. He had served as a village trustee for 11 years before being elected mayor. He was a charter member and past president of the Webster Rotary Club, a member of the Webster Chamber of Commerce and Webster Methodist Church. He owned and operated the Webster Drug Store at 21 East Main Street, which he purchased in 1937 and closed in 1968 with plans to retire and do some traveling.
In 1970, Mr. Case suffered a neck injury in a car accident in Toronto. On Oct. 28, he was having minor surgery when he had a heart attack and died.
Now that we all know a little more about him, let’s make a point to remember Milton R. Case when we visit his park. If you haven’t been there yet, consider taking take an hour out someday soon to experience this quiet little corner of our village. You can read more about the park in my 2016 Tour de Parks Challenge entry, here.
If you’d like to check out the entire blog site I created from my Tour de Parks Challenge, click here. And by the way, the Village of Webster actually boasts 22 acres of parks and recreation areas. Click here to watch a short video I helped the Webster Public Library create which introduces them all.
I really never know where my next blog idea will come from. In this case, it was an email from my friend Kathy Taddeo at the Webster Museum. She was writing about an unrelated topic but happened to mention something that really piqued my interest: the “Webster Women’s Hall of Fame.”
A Webster Women’s Hall of Fame? I’d never heard of this before, and I immediately wondered whether it still existed, where it could be found, and who’s been inducted. I clearly needed to do some research.
My first stop, of course, was the Webster Museum, as it always is when I need to find out something about our town’s history. Town Historian Lynn Barton was able to tell me a few things right away: the Hall of Fame was a program run by the Webster Business and Professional Women’s Club (BPW), and it no longer exists. Mostly because the club itself no longer exists.
Lynn had a box of records and papers from the BPW, and the museum had several other boxes filled with materials tucked in their back room. After about an hour poking through them, and with additional help from museum volunteers and my friend (and 2000 inductee) Shirley Humphrey, I was able to pull together a pretty good picture of what the Women’s Hall of Fame was/is.
The Webster BPW was established in 1964, but the Women’s Hall of Fame wasn’t created until 1975, which was officially designated by the United Nations as International Women’s Year. Its purpose was to “honor and perpetuate the memory of women in Webster, past or present, who have significantly affected the lives of those around them.”
Nominations were open to all Webster women and were solicited through notices in the Webster papers and forms posted at the library and at Town Hall.
The first inductee was Marie Stone, who taught history and Latin at Webster High School for 40 years, and was instrumental in establishing the Webster Historical Society. She was the best friend and colleague of Esther Dunn (author of Webster…Through the Years) and was part of the organizing committee which formed the Webster Museum at Town Hall in 1976.
The last woman to be inducted was Carroll Manning, in 2004. Carroll moved to Webster in 1973, where her husband Rob established the Webster Veterinary Clinic. She was very involved in the Webster Arboretum, and was also known for knitting hundreds of pairs of mittens to donate to those in need. Carroll passed away in September, 2021 at 90 years old.
The Webster BPW continued to meet regularly until 2014 when it was finally dissolved due to declining membership.
Below, you’ll find a list of all of the Women’s Hall of Fame inductees. (No one seems to know why there five honorees in 1999.) The Webster Museum has photos of them all, and hope to some day soon put together an exhibit honoring these amazing women. There’s a good chance you’ll recognize some of the names.
You may remember reading a short time ago about the Friends of Webster Trails‘ Re-Tree Project, the goal of which is to save our Webster forests from insects and disease.
If you’ve hiked the trails at Whiting Rd. Nature Preserve recently, you may have noticed some work being done there as part of that project. John Boettcher from the Friends recently explained what was going on, writing,
As part of the ReTree effort from the Friends of Webster Trails, we have had a contractor come in on two occasions to clear some of the invasive woody plants on the east side of WRNP. Thus far this work has been concentrated along the Blue Trail north of the parking lot. … In the future, we will replace the invasive species with native plants purchased or grown in a nursery to be constructed.
Signs have been posted along the trail explaining what’s happening.
Here’s more detail about the ReTree Project, from the Friends:
The forests of Webster are under attack. Insects and disease are going after the ash, hemlock, oak, and beech. As they die, they will be replaced by invasive and most times non-native trees unless we do something.
The Friends of Webster Trails has established a group to come up a plan and set it in motion. ReTree – Replanting Our Native Forest aims to do just that. Tree surveys have been completed of many of our trail areas telling us what trees are present and their number. You may have already noticed efforts to clear invasive plants along the Blue Trail in the Whiting Road Nature Preserve. In fall, potted trees of appropriate species will be purchased and planted in this area. In spring, we will be building a tree nursery to grow native trees from seeds for future planting.
If you’d like more details about the project or want to participate, contact the Friends of Webster Trails through the form on the website and someone will get back to you.
If you and your kids haven’t had a chance to complete the Clovers and Clues Scavenger Hunt yet, there’s still plenty of time to win a great prize!
This family-friendly scavenger hunt is sponsored by Webster Parks and Recreation and the Webster Health and Education Network (WHEN). Through Thursday March 17, participants hunt for clues placed in 13 locations all around the Town of Webster. Each clue consists of different letters, and when all the letters are collected, you’ll use them to decode a final message prompting healthy choices.
Completed answers can be submitted to Webster Parks and Recreation for the chance to win a beautiful gift basket.
Visit the WHEN website to get your first clue. Collecting letters will take about an hour or two, can be done anytime and is a great activity for all ages. A smart phone is encouraged to help find clue locations and to scan QR codes.
This is a fun family adventure, a great way to get a little exercise and learn about healthy choices all at the same time. (And keep your eyes peeled for leprechauns; who knows where they might be hiding at this time of year!)
This week’s Webster This Week newsletter led with news of a heartwarming event that happened on Sunday at Town Hall.
Members of Webster’s Ukranian community gathered with many other community members to present the Town with a Ukranian flag to be flown at Town Hall. I wasn’t there myself (I didn’t know about the event in advance) but the photos in the newsletter captured what was obviously a very well-attended and solemn event. I found the one photo of the crowd waving more than a dozen Ukranian flags quite moving. Click here to go directly to the newsletter and see more photos.
You’ll also see an announcement about how you can help the people of Ukraine. A Ukraine relief effort is underway, collecting clothing, personal hygiene supplies, infant supplies and sleeping bags which will be shipped directly to the people of Ukraine. Items are being collected through March 10 at several locations all around Rochester. Click through to the newsletter for more details.
I feature the people and places and events that make Webster the wonderful community it is — and throw in some totally-not-Webster-related personal ramblings every once in a while as well.
I love it when readers send me news about the great things happening in their schools or the community, so please email me anytime at missyblog@gmail.com
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